Follett Fall 2012 Pitfalls and Panic Makers; Practical Tips and Troubleshooting

Panic Maker Scenario: Students barcodes don’t scan

I scanned number just like normal This wasn’t my student so I unchecked “Only My Patrons” box Got error message (see next slide)

Patron not found. Why?

Somehow the “Only Search” drop down menu got changed from “Barcode” to “Patron Names” This is VERY COMMON. Mischievous elves do this on a regular basis.

Pitfall Scenario: No book covers are showing up in Destiny Quest Or Some book covers appear, others don’t.

Scenario: I have been teaching Destiny Quest Should book covers be showing up? Even looking through our regular catalog I don’t see any book covers. Step 1: Look up Hunger Games (or other title)

Step 2: Some have covers, some don’t

Remedy: Click “Go” again, and the covers will show up This is the equivalent of saying “please.” Caution: Not all records will have a book cover.

Or… Click on a title, and the cover shows up

Troubleshooting Scenario: Teachers can’t login, or all my teachers aren’t in Destiny.

Teachers’ Destiny records are not updated, nor are they tied to any database that is updated. Look up a few teachers to see if the 5 digit Employee ID is used for the barcode. If so, then the teachers’ usernames are probably the 5x2 and the passwords are probably the EIDs.

You can always uncheck the “only my patrons” box to check out to a teacher who transferred from another district. If a teacher is brand new, you can just add them, using the 5x2 as the username, and the 5 digit EID as the password. Carolyn McClure to have the access level changed to

Pitfall Scenario: Students who leave—Reports still show these students

Pitfall--Students who leave—Reports still show these students If a student transfers within the district, the Destiny record will go with them. (sometimes takes a day). Uncheck the “only my patrons” box if you get a student from another school and the record is not at your school yet.

If a student leaves the district, DO NOT DELETE the student. The Destiny record does not go away. DO NOT DELETE the student.

Create a new Patron Type (if you don’t have one already) for students who move out of the district. These students almost always come back at some point. DO NOT DELETE the student.

In Destiny, go to the Back Office tab Choose the Library Policies option Use the Patron Types subtab Click the icon “+ Patron Type”

Name the patron type Put max checkouts and max holds at zero Change Ready Holds expire in _1_ days and Pending Holds expire in _1_ days to one.

Check the “Block check outs…” box Change the checkout Limit to zero for each circulation type. Your circulation types will vary. Save

When a student leaves, go to Back Office Tab, Manage Patrons option. Look up the student and click Edit. In the Site Information part of the record, change the patron type to “Out of District” and click Save. DO NOT DELETE ANY PATRONS, EVER. Please!

When running reports, always update the patron types. It will usually be in “Step 2, Limit” Click the “Plus over Minus Update” box

Uncheck the patron types you want left out of the report, and Click OK. This takes you back to the next step of the report. Your patron types will vary.

Panic Maker Scenario: Help, I changed my assistants password, and now she can’t even log in.

Password change is a 2-step process Back Office tab, Manage Patrons option, look up patron, click edit. Step 1: Click Clear password, then save. Step 2: Click Edit again, type in password twice, then save. Do not try to combine the steps.

Practical Tip Scenario: I want to add a subject field to the Sequoyah nominees, but I can’t update the MARC record. Why?

This is one database. One very large database. One extremely large database. You cannot, should not, will not, do not change the MARC record. You can, however, add a site-specific subject heading that will only show at your site.

Moon over Manifest is a 2013 Children’s Sequoyah nominee. To add a subject heading, click the +Plus/Minus Site Subjects” box, then click the “Add Subject” box

Don’t just start typing. Look to see if there is a subject heading already in the catalog. Click the Find Heading icon

Type in Sequoyah, and choose Bibliographic headings. Click Go. Be prepared to wait. All computers wait at the same speed—slowly!